Navigation

The Rational Response Squad is a group of atheist activists who impact society by changing the way we view god belief. This site is a haven for those who are pushing back against the norm, and a place for believers of gods to have their beliefs exposed as false should they want to try their hand at confronting us.

Buy any item on AMAZON, and we'll use the small commission to help end theism, dogma, violence, hatred, and other irrationality. Buy an Xbox 360 -- PS3 -- Laptop -- Apple

Why such a specific attack against Christianity?

Posted on: August 13, 2009 - 2:05pm

Observer

Posts: 63

Joined: 2008-09-17

Offline

Why such a specific attack against Christianity?

I am not trying to argue here. I am just trying to make an observation. and see if others agree with it. It seems many people wonder why atheists today, particularly in America, have such a precise attack against Christianity. Here are my observations.

First, it is the dominant theistic notion of America and the west. If most Americans were Muslim, then the arguments would be directed against Islam chiefly.

Second, Darwin’s dominant theory of evolution is NOT an attack against Deism or Theism in general. Since most atheists adopt this view, they stand against systems that reject the view. There could be a god who does not participate in creation, like many deist founding fathers of America believed in. Evolution would be compatible with this type of god. Now, what if this god began to interact with his creation today? Then the universe would be in a scenario of theism (a point not addressed by many deists. Just because a god removed himself from creation for all of history does remove the notion that that god could initiate interaction today). Evolution and abiogenesis from the Big Bang could co-exist in these scenarios. Problems of infinite regress and the origin of this deity (or deities?) would have to be addressed. However, evolution and abiogenesis as understood today would still be logically possible. The point here is that Christians feel isolated in the atheists’ focus from other theists, but that is because theism in general is not threatened by Darwin’s dominant notion of evolution. Yet, Christianity does stand in contrast to it.

Third, as mentioned above, Christianity is in conflict with evolution as propagated by Darwin. Darwinism leaves room for gods that are secluded and subjective from creation or gods that have been so since the dawn of the universe (as mentioned, these gods could theoretically break their silence now, a point not really addressed by Deists). However, this is not the god of the Old Testament or New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is active in creation and has an agenda that conflicts with the desires of human beings. Regardless of a liberal or conservative interpretation, this God actively created and, especially if the evangelical view of Adam is adopted, created two individuals, Adam and Eve, whom all humans come from. This is contrast to Darwin’s dominant view that humans, and all living things, descend from a vast ancestry of a similar life form upon which all species find their origins.

In the Darwinian view, natural selection cultivated and developed the wide variety of life forms on Earth today. Therefore, there is no active god who made individuals apart from a Darwinian model and interacted in the world in ways the Bible describes. The only option for a god is one who let a natural process proceed. Could this god have interacted in the world in some ways and evolution still be true? Yes, but not the way the god of the Bible does. It would have to be in a way that let natural selection run its course, since, as the naturalists have concluded, that is what is found in the fossil record and other areas of analysis. Therefore the God of the bible is ruled out for the world of the Biblical narrative is contradictory to the world in which evolution is responsible all for the variety of life we see today as seen in the example of Adam. In the Bible, all humans come from the individual Adam. In Darwin’s dominant view all humans find their origins in the chain of evolution and in the history of other species.

Why is there such a specific attack on Christianity? Why is this faith singled out from other theistic notions? Well it is the most popular and therefore the largest target. Theism itself is not as threatened by evolution. And last, the naturalistic view that a natural world that found its present state from a series of natural phenomenon is a world that is not the same world as the world of the Bible.

What do you all think? Is this why Christianity is attacked more than other forms of theism? Thanks for your thoughts!

I'm heading out of town in a minute, but if I have time and a wireless network, I'll try to clean you up a bit. Maybe someone else will get to it before me. (Fingers crossed.)

For the record, I don't specifically attack Christianity very much. I attack all faith-based belief systems. Christianity is often a convenient example since most of RRS's readers are more familiar with it than any other religion (as am I), but virtually all of my arguments apply equally to all faith based religions.

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

Besides, all the cosmological bickering applies to every religion. And you do see some specifically anti-Muslim discussion points. I imagine if more English speaking theists from non-Christian backgrounds showed up to debate, you would see more diversity.